Fashion and Sustainability

Be The Change You Want to See

In recent years, sustainability has become the buzzword left right and centre. It is not surprising the concept or idea of sustainability will eventually make its way into the fashion industry. As reported in Vogue Australia January 2020, McKinsey & Co has reported that identifying sustainable sorucing as an essential building block for future and existing apparel brands. The idea of incorporating sustainability into fashion is brilliant but to make fashion truly sustainable, we all need to make some changes to how we engage and interact with fashion to make positive and lasting changes to the world. Here are some of my personal tips and views on how we can make our wardrobe sustainable:

#1: Support Brands that Focus on Sustainability

We see more and more brands such as Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Stella McCartney have incorporated sustainability into their collection. Whether it is from how and where they source their fabrics to the process they use to fabricate the end product, as consumers we should research on our favourite brands and how are they incorporating sustainability into their operation.

#2: Recycle Your Fashion Items

I personally do not condemn fast fashion such as Asos, Boohoo, H&M and Zara just to name a few. They make fashion accessible and affordable for so many people around the world. However, I do have issue with how we consumers treat their items after purchasing them. We as consumers should change our mentality that “Oh this is a cheap t-shirt from Asos. I can wear it for once or twice and discard it.” And that is the problem which lead us to where we are today. Learn to be creative with your items. If it is an old t-shirt,keep it and wear it when you do dirty house chores such as gardening or painting. If it is a loose t-shirt, wear it as your pyjamas. If you cannotdo much with them, bring it to places such as H&M and Zara where they can recycle your items for free.

#3: Invest in Classic Pieces

As consumers, we share some responsibility in pushing the sustainability movement further. Consumers often forget businesses work on a supply versus demand model. If the consumers have high demand, naturally businesses will need to produce more products to meet the demand of its customers. We can start by buying classic pieces from your favourite brands (it does not have to be luxury brand or receive any sustainability certification). Classic and timeless pieces such as plain colour top and classic jeans are meant to last beyond a season. Invest in these timeless pieces and you can not only minimise your expenditure on fashion but help the environment by not buying more. Less is indeed more!